It's for you!

Tell me if this has ever happened. You are sitting in a restaurant enjoying a wonderful meal with friends and family. Suddenly, the waitress walks up with a cordless phone in her hand. After asking if “so-and-so” is at the table, you suddenly realize the call is for you. Somehow, someway, whoever was on the other side of the call found you and called you out. At that point you have to make a decision. Am I going to take the call or not? This actually happened last week while we were at dinner with friends. By the way, my friend decided to take the call.

Last Sunday I was fortunate to hear my friend Frank Shelton, Jr. as he spoke at a local church. He was on a whirlwind tour of my state, preaching 5 times – in 5 different churches – in 5 days. It made me tired just reading his itinerary.

Frank is an excellent communicator. He had several good points in his sermon but one quote he said really hit home with me and I wanted to share my thoughts. Frank said “some are called to preach. Some are called to teach. But we are all called to reach.”

Not everyone can get behind a pulpit and “preach” to a crowd of people. Not everyone can “teach” a classroom full of raucous 2^nd graders every Sunday morning.

But we are ALL called to “reach”. Matthew 28:19 tells us that we are to “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,”

• Jesus didn’t tell us to convert them. We cannot save anyone.
• He didn’t tell us to convince them. It’s not an argument or up for debate.
• He simply told us to convey them. Convey means to take, carry, transport, etc. It is our job to take, carry, and transport sinners to Christ. He will take it from there.

How can we ALL do this? In the next verse Jesus gives the secret. "I am with you always, to the end of the age."

So next time you hear a phone ring, or the waitress walks up to your table with the cordless – it might just be for you.  That scenario might never happen in your life.

But their is a more important call given today. Somehow, someway, Jesus has found you. Jesus is calling your number. Are you going to take it?

Stand Up in Your Storm

Do you ever feel like things are a little shaky? Well if you are breathing, the answer is yes! Everyone is looking for stability in their lives. Each of us is trying to balance life, career, kids, finances, church, etc. and sometimes we fail miserably.

In the latter part of Acts, we find the Apostle Paul as a prisoner on a ship headed for Rome. Along the way a storm comes. During the storm, Paul’s ship was anything but stable. It was tossed and beaten by the waves and weather. But scripture tells us that in the midst of that storm – in the middle of Paul’s life being thrown upside down – Paul was able to stand.

Acts 27:21 says that Paul “stood forth in the midst of them...”

He was able to do so because he BELIEVED GOD AND BELIEVED GOD’S PROMISES! God had sent an angel to Paul and promised Paul that he would make it to Rome and Paul believed Him. He was promised that all that sailed with him would make it too.

You can stand in the middle of your storms – and find the stability you need in your life – if you’ll just BELIEVE GOD AND HIS PROMISES!

There are over 3400 promises in the Bible and I’m thankful that I can find one, no matter what my situation might be, and stand on it till the storm passes!!

How's Your Ride?

I love riding my motorcycle. I enjoy the freedom and the relaxation it provides. My only problem is I don’t get to ride as much as I want. I am blessed that my wife loves to ride too. As I write this, we are planning on taking the bike out tomorrow and going for a ride just to get away from it all for a while. I can’t wait. It's been too long.

But before I can enjoy the ride tomorrow I have to clean and polish the bike. You see, it’s been sitting for a while and it has gotten a little dirty. Unfortunately, that has become the norm for my black beauty.

When I purchased her, straight off the showroom floor, she was all sparkly and clean. I rode her home and immediately put her in the garage. I didn’t want anything to tarnish her look. After every ride I would wipe her down, even using a Qtip in the hard to reach places to make sure I got every bit of road grime and dirt off my new found love. When I was finished I would put the cover over her and put her back in the garage.

After a while it got to be too much work to take such good care of her so I just started wiping her down when I could see obvious spots of dirt or road film. I still kept her in the garage but started leaving the cover off. I would do a halfhearted job of cleaning her then when I was riding I would see spots that I missed. Nobody else could see those spots but I knew they were there.

I have since moved from that home into another one that does not have a garage. She now sits under my carport, sometimes covered, but seldom babied and pampered like she should. Now, before I can ride her in public I must get her cleaned up again. It will be hard because I should have been taking care of her all along. Now I have to make up for a lot of laziness on my part.

That is the way it is with our lives as well. When we first get saved we take every precaution to make sure we do not get the dirt and road grime of life on our new found love. When we did, we would immediately jump into action and take the steps necessary to restore it back to the way it should be.

Then, as the years wear on, we get a dose of laziness. We tolerate a little more dirt and grime. We fail to do the preventive measures to ensure that our lives are presentable and worthy of claiming Christ. Romans 12 tells us to present our bodies “as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” – and here’s the kicker – “which is your spiritual worship.” (ESV)

So, how’s your ride? Do you need to roll up your sleeves and maybe even get a Qtip and get those hard to reach areas of your life cleaned up? Have you been “cleaning your ride” halfheartedly leaving spots that only you know about? If so, use this weekend to provide some TLC to your ride. Then you can have something to be proud of and worthy of showing off…a life worthy of claiming Christ.

Kickstands up – let’s ride!

I'm Tired of Running

On Sunday, February 26, 2012 I stopped running. I had been running for too long; almost 29 years to be exact.

What was I running from? The authorities? An angry customer? A bill collector? The answer would be NO to all of those questions. I had been running from a call. A call that I neither understood or really wanted. The call was to be involved in full-time ministry.

When I was in 10th grade, I participated in the Fine Arts competition at my Christian School. I sang a solo and was invited to preach a sermon. The results were so favorable that I advanced to the State competition. Same results, on to National competition at Bob Jones University in South Carolina. Everyone was telling me that I was a natural and I should be a preacher. I was a little more reserved in my review of the events that had transpired.

I wasn't totally against the idea, I just wanted to make sure I was God called not "them" called. However, I continued to postpone making a decision and in a few years, the desire to preach was gone. Whew! I got jobs, got married, had kids and began singing in gospel groups - thinking I had found my niche.

Life then set in. The jobs came and went. The marriage, which we realized after 16 years was not based on love but convenience, crumbled and now I get to see my kids every other weekend. Then, about 6 months ago, the desire to be doing something started again. I was singing with a quartet that was getting a pretty fast following and thought that was it. I needed to be singing. But I later realized that was not all I was supposed to be doing.

Feb. 26th I stopped running. I surrendered to the call on my life to become involved in full-time ministry. To date, I do not have a clear direction on what He wants me to do but I am patiently waiting for doors to open. It could be preaching, teaching, evangelistical work, etc.

Until then, I'll just keep reading the Word, praying for direction and listening to that still small voice that will guide me and my family into the next phase of our lives.